Process of manufacturing carbureted water gas



Sept- 6, 1938 L. J; WILLI'EN E11-AL .2,129,341

PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING CARBURETD WATER GAS y A Filed Aug. s, 192e Patented Sept. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES IhROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING CARBU- RETED WATER GAS Leon J. Willien, Chicago, Ill., and Louis Stein, Minneapolis, Minn., assignors to The United Gas Improvement Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporationv of Pennsylvania Application August 3,-

3 Claims.

'I'his invention relates to the production of combustible gas and more particularly to a process and apparatus for making carbureted water gas. This application is a continuation in part of our prior application Serial No. 187,876, led April 30, 1927.

One object of this invention is Vto provide a process for manufacturing carbureted blue water gas such as is commonly used for illuminating, heating and various other purposes, having a substantially lower specic gravity than is commonly obtainable by the practice of present processes.

Another object of this invention is to' provide a process for making carbureted water gas which may be practiced in existing gas-making sets comprising a generator, carburetor, superheater and wash box connected in series, or in existing sets that can readily and easily be modified for the purpose of practicing our invention. By the practice of this process there is periodically obtained a higher B. t. u. gas and/or moregas so that irregular, temporary, peak or unusual demands for gas from a given gas installation may be met without the use of a spare'installation or additional equipment, or without having the gas set of greater capacity -than that required for normal operation. Accordingly," by the practice of our process, there is effected an economy in the equipment necessarYAfOrgenerating gas to meet both the usual and unusual demands therefor. l

Our inventionv involves an improvement in the `process of making carbureted water gas in a three-shell set including a generator, carburetor and superheater, which comprises a blast to heat the fuel bed to incandescence and store heat in the carburetor and superheater, one combustible gas-making run wherein steam is passed through the fuel bed of the generator and the resultant gas passed into and through the carburetor where it is enriched with the customary oil, namely petroleum oil, the enriched gas being passed into and through the superheater and wash box and the usual purifying and gas treating devices into a holder, and a second combustible gas generating run commonly known as the back-run,

value of the gas obtained from both combustible gas generating runs of the cycle is produced' and 192s, yserial No.' 297,24?.

(ci. 4ax-20s) a substantially constant volume of gas is generated by the gas-making set.

According to the present invention, oil of the above type is added tothe steam, passing through the superheater and carburetor prior to passage thereof through the fuel bed in the generator, the resultant mixture being passed through the fuel bed and the resultant gas passed directly fromv the generator'to the wash box. The oil may be introduced into the superheater simultaneously with the introduction of steam thereinto. By the practice of our process carbureted water gas of a greater B. t. u. value, low gravity gas and/or a greater yield of gas is obtainable.

In the operation of water gas sets there are frequent temporary demands for increased gas vand heretofore, to accommodate such demands, it has been necessary to provide a spare installation for the generation of the increased gas to meet such temporarydemands or peak loads. According to our invention, carbureted water gas sets are operated as is customary to meet' the normal demands but when it is necessary to generate more gas to accommodate increased or `peak demands in enriching constituent such as oil, as hereinbefore pointed out, is added to the gas-making steam of the back run, for example introduced into the superheater and thev mixture of steam and oil is passed into and through the fuel bed in the generator down through the fuel bed so that more gas and/or gas of higher B. t. u.

value is prducible. It will be noted that according to our invention.it is possible to meet the incidental and irregular or temporary demands for increased gas without having a spare installation, or without having a gas set with a greater capacity than that required for normal operation.

In the accompanying drawing there has been disclosed a structure designed to carry out the various objects of the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not conned to the exact features shown, as various changes may be made within the' scope of the claims which follow. u

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification; y f

Figure l is ,a vertical sectional view of a form of apparatus for manufacturing carbureted blue water gas, showing the invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a sectional plany view `on the line 2--2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged detailed sectional view on the line 3 3 of Figure 2, showing a form of oil spray nozzle.

The gas manufacturing apparatus illustrated in Figure l comprises the usual water gas gencarburetor and superheater are similarly connected together ,at their lower portions by means of a conduitA 9. The carburetor and superheater have provided therein the usual checker brick II as is customary in structures of this kind. A fgrate I2 is provided in the generator 5 beneath which is the usual ash pit I3, having an air supply pipe I4 connected therewith for blasting the fuel bed. A valve I5 controls the flow of air to the generator. A steam pipe I6 is also connected with the ash pit I3 and has a control valve II for regulating vthe flow of steam delivered to the apparatus during the process of making the gas.

A gas take-oir connection I8 is provided at the upper end of the superheater 1 and has one end connected with a valve mechanism, such as the three-way valve I9, Ashown in Figure 1, for controlling the flow of gas from the superheater to the usual wash box 2|. 'I-'his wash box has a connection 22 leading to a suitable gas storage means, not shown. A connection 23 connects the three-way valve I9 with the ash pit I3 of the generatcr. A valved steam intake pipe 24 is also provided in the gas take-off I8, whereby the gaseous flow through the apparatus may be reversed, as will subsequently be described. The superheater is further provided with the usual stack valve 25, which is opened during the air blasting operation of the fuel bed and is closed during the gas-making portion of ea'ch cycle of operation. The usual voil spray nozzle 26 is shown mounted in the upper portion of the carburetor 6, and a fuel door 21 is provided in the top of the generator for fueling the generator when necessary.

In a gas manufacturing set or apparatus, such as above described, steam is introduced into the generator from the pipe I6, after the fuel bed has been blasted in the usual manner and the checkerbrick `II in the carburetor and superheater have been heated to the desired temperatures. 'I'he steam, in passing through the incandescent fuel bed, is decomposed and forms water gas which passes through the connection 8 into the upper portion of the carburetor, thence downwardly through the checker-brick therein, and through the connection 9 into the bottom of the superheater. From the bottom of the superheater the water gas passes upwardly through the checkerbrick therein and is discharged therefrom through the gas take-off I8, into the wash box 2I, from which it passes through the pipe 22 to a suitable storage means, such as a relief holder, not shown. In order to produce a carbureted blue water gas that is adaptedfor use for commercial purposes, it is necessary'that the gases inthe apparatus, before reaching the wash box 2|, be enriched by a suitable enriching fluidsuch as oil, for the purpose of increasing the caloriflc value of the resultant gas. In the usual process of manufacturing carbureted blue water gas, as above described, oil is introduced into the apparatus, usually at the top of the carburetor, by means of the oil spray passing through the carburetor.

nozzle 26 and after the steam has passed through the generator fuel bed and water gas has been formed, the oil is added to the water gas while 'I'he type of apparatus illustrated in Figure 1 is of the up-and-down or back-run type, wherein the flow of steam or gases through the apparatus may be reversed, that is, for the up-run the steam is introduced into the apparatus in the lower portionn of the generator, and is discharged in the form of gas through the take-off I8 at the upper portion of the superheater. After the up-run fiow of steam has continued for a predetermined period of time, thesupply of steam to the generator is shut off, and the three-way valve I9 is moved to .the dotted line position shown in Figure 1, to close the gas take-off I8. Steam is then preferably introduced into the upper portion of the superheater from the pipe 24, and flows downwardly through the superheater, 4thence upwardly through the carburetor and over into the generator and down through the fuel bed therein, and thereby generating water gas which passes into the ash pit, from which it flows through the connection 23, back to the three-way valve I9, and into the wash box 2|. It is understood that the i steam may be introduced at any point in the set prior to the fuel bed. The above described operation is commonly known as the back-run method of operation. In the above described process of manufacturing carbureted water gas, oil is not introduced into the gases during the back-run or analogous ru'n of the gas-making operation, but during theup-run and subsequent to the passage of the steam through the fuel bed. We have found, however, from actual experimenting, that by introducing an enriching uid, preferably oil, into the gases, prior to their passage through the generator fuel bed, the hydrogen content of the resultant gas is increased, thereby lowering the specific gravity of the gas and increasing the vol- -ume of gas generated so that more gas is produced. 'I'hevimproved'process featured in this invention consists in thus introducing into the gases, prior to their passage through the generator fuel bed, a suitable enriching uid.

In order to carry out our invention we mount one or more spray nozzles 28, such as in the upper portion of the superheater wall, as shown in Figure 1. When a plurality of oil spray nozzles 28 are employed, they are preferably connected, as shown in Figure 2, to obtain their supply of o'il from a pipe 29, having a connection with a suitable source of supply, not shown. A control valve 3| may be interposed in the pipe 29 for controlling the ow of oil to the nozzles. The oil spray nozzles shown in the drawing are of the injector type, having a connection with a steam pipe 32, connected with a supply pipe 33, having a connection with a steam source, not shown. A valve 34 is provided in the supply pipe 33 for controlling the supply of steam to the nozzles 28.l Figures 2 and 3 illustrate a conventional form of oil spray nozzle of the injector type, in which the small pipe 35 is connected with the oil supply pipe 29 by means of a pipe 36. The relatively large pipe 31 comnunicates with the steam pipe 33. Thus, when the valve 34 is opened, the ow of steam through the restricted passage in the nozzles 28 will draw oil from the pipes 35, assuming that the valve 3| is open, which will be delivered into the upper ^portion of the superheaterJtogether with the steam. This mixture of the steam and oil will then pass downwardly wthrough the heater checker-brick in the superheater, as a result of the down flow of steam from the pipe 24, thence through the connection 9, thence upwardly through the checker-brick in'the carburetor and over into the top of the generator and downwardlyy through the fuel bed. By introducing the oil in the upper portion of the superheater the oil will be substantially vaporized or gasied before it reaches the generator fuel bed and as the steam or gases and oil vapors pass through the generator fuel bed, the gasifled oil is decomposed simultaneously with thedecomposition of steam, producing hydrogen and other gases, to

and fractions known commercially as heavy oil.

form a low gravity, carbureted blue water gas which is passed through the usual gas treating and purifying device into the holder where it is admixed with the gas produced during the preceding. gas-making run. Inasmuch as there is produced in the back run, hydrogen and carbureted blue water gas, it follows that the hydrocarbon oil is not completely decomposed but is partially decomposed or cracked into hydrogen andy volatile hydrocarbons orv xed oil gas by `means of .which the blue water gas, simultaneously generated, is carbureted. By the practice of our process there is obtainable a higher B. t. u. gas and/or more gas and the gas produced during the back run is of lower specific gravity than 'the gas produced when steam alone is employed during this run. i

In the drawing we have also shown an oil spray nozzle 38 mounted in the upper portion of the generator so that, if desired, oil may also be introduced at this point. In some instances, it

may be found desirable to introduce a portion of or demands for gas from given gas installations fluctuate, there being a substantially constant demand throughout the major portion of the period and demands for more or increased gas at intervals during such period of time. Heretofore, to meet such demands for increased gas, or peak loads it has been the practice to operate a certain number of sets of the installations substantially continuously and at full'or normal capacity to meet the normal or substantially constant demands and to maintain other spare or additional sets'which were operated only at certain intervals to generate additional gas to accommodate.- the peak loads.` By the practice of our invention, as herein disclosed, the necessity for such additional sets is eliminated and all the combustible gas equipment is operated efficiently, economically and substantially continuously to meet both normal loads and peak or increased demands\ for gas.4

From the foregoing it will be seen that when our invention is employed, the gas made 'during the back-run is of lower specic gravity than either the carbureted water gas made during the up-run, or blue water gas made during a back-run when our invention is not employed.

Therefore, the term low specific gravity refers i more particularly to gas made during the backrun when our invention is employed than to the mixed gas in the vholder which, as will be readily' 4naphtha, gas gil, residuum oil, and `the crudes The term petroleum oil as used in the claims v specificallyI excludes other hydrocarbon `oil such tached shells, and a washbox, connected in se,

ries, comprises internally preheating the carburetor and superheater solely by air blast gas from the generator, making 'carbureted water gas by l,

forward steaming and carbureting, introducing petroleum oil into the back run steam, and generating gas comprising carbureted water gas and hydrogen' and of lower specific gravity than the forward run carbureted water gasand of lower specific gravity than would `be the case in the absence of the introduction of the petroleum oil by passing the mixture of steam and oil down through the rfuel bed partially decomposing the petroleum oil .to hydrogen and to oil gas which latter carburets the water gas simultaneously generated in the fuel bed.

2. In a process for making carbureted water gas, which, when practiced'in a carburetedwater gas set comprising a single generator a single carbureter and a single superheater in lindividual detached shells and connected in series, includes a blast for bringing the fuel bed up to temperature and for .heating the set, an up-run with steam during which petroleum oil is introduced into said set for carbureting the up-run water I gas, and a back -run during which steam is passed in a reverse direction through said set, the step of introducing petroleum oil into said set during said back-run for Jpassage through the .fuel bed along with the steam whereby said pe- 'lower specific gravity than would bethe case in the absence of the introduction 4of petrbleum oil into said set during said back-run.

3. A process for making carbureted water 5gas in a carbureted water gas set, comprising a single- I generator a single carbureter and a single super- I heaterin individual detached shells and connected in series, which includes in a cycle the following steps, a blast for bringing the fuel 4 i be the case in the absence of the introduction of petroleum oil into said'set during saidback-run, and then combining said up-run carbureted water gas and said back-run carbureted water gas.

LEON J. WILLIEN. LOUIS STEIN. d 

